Critic Reviews

Corman at his intoxicating best, drawing a seductive mesh of sexual motifs from Poe's story through a fine Richard Matheson script.

The film plays like a companion piece to Usher, but one eager to push beyond its limits, particularly in its tinted flashback sequences. It also lets Price begin the film as a delicate gentleman and end it as a madman.

A highly effective merging of star power (both in front and behind the camera) and finely honed horror sensibilities.

Watching this film as a child, the piercing image of Medina's wife Elizabeth's (Barbara Steele) wide eyes in the iron maiden stayed with me for years.

Screenwriter Richard Matheson did a fine job of adapting Poe's rather limited (for films) short story by saving the dungeon sequences for the climax and then creating a rather interesting plot line to lead up to it. One of Corman's and AIP's best.

Corman enhances the narrative with assorted shocks and tinted flashbacks reminiscent of the silent cinema.

A physically stylish, imaginatively photographed horror film which, though needlessly corny in many spots, adds up to good exploitation.